Dempsey and Rowe is the musical theatre composition team of Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

ans John Dempsey (lyricist)

John Dempsey (lyricist)

John Dempsey is a theatrical lyricist and playwright who has worked in Britain and the United States. Much of his work in musical theater has been written with composer Dana P. Rowe. With Rowe, he wrote the book and lyrics for Zombie Prom , The Fix , and the stage adaptation of John Updike's The...

 and Dana P. Rowe

Dana P. Rowe

Dana P. Rowe is an American musical theater composer whose works have been performed in New York and London. Much of his work has been written with lyricist John Dempsey. With Dempsey, he wrote the music for Zombie Prom , The Fix , and the stage adaptation of John Updike's The Witches of Eastwick...

 (composer). They have completed four shows to-date: The Reluctant Dragon, Zombie Prom (1996) The Fix (1997) and The Witches of Eastwick

The Witches of Eastwick

The Witches of Eastwick is a 1984 novel by John Updike.-Plot summary:The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the late 1960s, follows the witches Alexandra Spofford, Jane Smart, and Sukie Rougemont, who acquired their powers after leaving or being left by their husbands....

(2000).

Update

As of August 2005, an independent film production of Zombie Prom, starring RuPaul

RuPaul

RuPaul Andre Charles , best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta...

 has just finished principal filming.

From September 14-25, Dana P Rowe will roadtest his new musical entitled The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, with book and lyrics by Michael Aman and Oscar E. Moor. The premiere, directed by Michael Bush with musical direction by Rowe himself - part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival

New York Musical Theatre Festival

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is an annual three-week fall Festival which presents more than thirty new musicals at venues in New York City's midtown theater district...

 - will star off-Broadway star Deven May

Deven May

Deven Shaw May is a Broadway performer, actor and photographer. He is most famous for his portrayal of the half-bat, half-human boy in Laurence O'Keefe's Off-Broadway musical, Bat Boy, for which he won a Theatre World Award for "Outstanding New York Debut," as well as Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel...

 and country singer Sherrié Austin

Sherrié Austin

Sherrie Veronica Krenn is an Australian actress and singer, known professionally as Sherrié Austin. Active as a singer since her teenage years, Sherrié initially recorded as one half of the duo Colorhaus, which also featured Phil Radford...

 as the eponymous duo.

The Fix (1997)

The Fix premiered at the Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...

 in April 1997 under the direction of Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...

. Its working title was "Cal: A Musical Tale of Relative Insanity". After mixed critical reception, the material were rewritten and the tone made more comic. The revised version, featuring an expanded, bolder orchestration, was premiered at the Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia.

Plot

Days before a United States presidential election, shoo-in candidate Reed Chandler suffers a fatal coronary between the thighs of his mistress. Before the body has turned cold, the dead man's widow, Violet, and brother, Grahame (a speechwriter and spin doctor crippled from birth by polio and jealous of his brother's public success) - not keen to see their patience and preparation go to waste - are conspiring to replace him with his own son, an unambitious drifter, Calvin. Cal is enlisted in the army and married off to a perky debutante before developing a hard drug problem and being photographed during sex with his mistress, a nightclub singer named Tina McCoy. To cover up Cal's indescretion, Grahame is forced to call upon the services of the city's criminal underworld, headed by Anthony Gliardi, who we are told is a "friend of the family". The years pass; Cal is elected governor and his wife bears a son. The list of favours owed to Gliardi grows longer, Cal's addiction deepens and Grahame's legs finally give way and he is condemned to life in a wheelchair. After a drying out period, Cal rediscovers his sense of self. He confronts the press, coming clean about his misgivings and the Chandler's relationship with Gliardi. Cal becomes the media darling once again, however on the eve of the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

nominations, Gliardi uses Tina to lure Cal away from his family, then shoots them both. The play comes full circle as at Cal's funeral, Violet and Grahame move in on Cal's young son. And suddenly the future doesn't look so dim after all.

The Witches of Eastwick (2000)

Previewing 24 June 2000 and opening 18 July 2000 in the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, The Witches of Eastwick was based upon the John Updike novel of the same name and also upon the motion picture directed by George Miller. The director who 'fixed' previous show, "The Fix" for its American premiere, Eric D. Schaeffer, was employed to head the new production. The original cast featured Ian McShane in the role of 'Darryl Van Horne' with Lucie Arnaz, Maria Friedman and Joanna Riding as the three witches, 'Alexandra', 'Sukie' and 'Jane'. The show was transferred to the Prince of Wales theatre on the 23 March 2001, where the set design was heavily reconceived and a new song, "The Glory of Me" added in place of Van Horne's solo, "Who's the Man?". The production closed on the 27 October 2001. The Witches of Eastwick is the season ending musical to Signature Theatre's 2006-2007 season featuring Marc Kuddisch, Emily Skinner, Jacquelyn Piro Donovan, and Christiane Noll.

Plot

Three lonely ladies in the quiet town of Eastwick, Rhode Island wish upon the moon for their perfect lover. According to their very specific (yet very conflicting) requirements, a lover arrives who is everything all three of the ladies could have ever asked for. He is Darryl Van Horne - an outsider - who, as well as being only one man for the three, has something of the devil about him - literally! Van Horne sweeps like a hurricane in their quiet town, seducing the three ladies, who fall in love with him, and corrupting the town's youth. Despite their best efforts, the elderfolk of the town cannot rid Eastwick of Van Horne or his influence over the three ladies and the story spirals out of control as he solidifies his hold over the trio.